Ladakh – Part 2 – Exploring the land of monasteries, mysterious magnetic hill and picturesque Sangam

Day 2: Sightseeing Around Leh

Morning after breakfast, we set off to sightseeing around Leh and it was quite an eventful day.

Spituk Monastery

This was our first stop. This is situated on hilltop. Hence you can imagine incredible views from this monastery. Offering a panoramic view of the Indus River and its valley, this Monastery is an ideal place for photography.










Sangam (Confluence)

Sangam is the confluence of the Indus and Zanskar rivers. One can clearly differentiate between the two waters from the road itself. 



One of the adventurous activities that the Ladakh landscape offers is river rafting along the Zanskar river. Some of our fellow travelers had already inquired and planned about this. They asked if we would like to join them. And without a second thought we said “Yes: 😊.



It was truly amazing. The water currents weren’t that great but the twists and turns of the river made whitewater rafting on the Zanskar a memorable adventure with the splendor of landscape adding more flavor to this experience. 


Gurudwara Patthar Sahib

By now we were super hungry. One thing about Ladakh when it comes to food is the rest areas for restrooms or food are not available at regular stops. So its better to pack your own food or eat heavy during your earlier meal and please do carry some energy bars/dry fruits with you for munching. 

Our driver recommended us to take a stopover at Gurudwara Patthar Sahib which falls in the same route.  A big convoy of army trucks welcomed us the moment we stopped here. This Gurudwara is fully maintained by Indian Army and we were overwhelmed by their hospitality. At the entrance of the Gurudwara we had to dip our feet in water, and this rejuvenated all our senses of the tiresome hilly ride. It was such a proud feeling to see these defense personnel doing this service and offering langar with full smile.





Magnetic Hill

There is a very interesting mystery here. Our driver cum tour guide told us that, the hill possesses magnetic properties that can pull cars uphill. Unbelievable isn’t it?. Our driver proved this to us. He switched off the car engine and asked all of us to get down. Surprisingly the car started moving slowly uphill and our driver started running along with it to take control back. We were seriously astonished to witness this rare phenomenon. Also it a good place for some quick selfies with an amazing view of the landscapes around. 



After this we were taken to Leh market for some shopping and then back to hotel. Post dinner, our driver asked us to sleep early and wake up soon since we had to start early for a long drive to Khardungla Pass. We slept off with the satisfaction of an eventful day and an excitement of what is going to unfold in front of us tomorrow. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sandesha - Museum of Communication

Image
Gone are the days when we would send inland letters or post cards to our near and dear ones. This is that era when there were no phones to talk to our loved ones. Post was the only means of communication back then. I am sure people from Gen X, Boomers and some percentage from Gen Y will relate to me on this. But Gen Z also need to know how communication has evolved since ages. So in this blog, I take all my readers to Sandesha – Museum of Communication in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.   We took a metro and got down at M.G.Road Metro station. From here the museum is located on Museum road and its walkable. We followed google map directions, walked along the nice pavements of Church street and finally reached museum at around 10:30 AM. Please note there is no entry fee here.  Sandesha in Kannada means message and hence this is the apt name for this museum.  This museum is completely dedicated to the journey of communication in India. While the security guard went inside to call the gu
Read more

Bellikkal Hills - Your Stint with Nature

Image
Bellikkal – Your Stint with Nature Bellikkal is a less crowded and secluded hill station in the Nilgiri mountains of Tamil Nadu. This is located on the south east of the Mudumalai forests, 16 km from Ooty and 249 km South of Bengalaru. Located at a high altitude, it is totally isolated from the outside world and is a great place to get rejuvenated and recharged.   There are several vantage points at Bellikkal that provide many beautiful panoramic views of the surrounding mountain peaks. One of the main attraction is the Neelakurinji Flowers. The flower has purplish blue color when aged. It looks light blue in the earlier stage of blooming. When in full bloom, they lend a bluish haze to the area. But these bushes blossom in a clustered manner once in twelve years. And we turned out to be lucky this year. We had planned this trip well ahead and had booked a homestay “Wild Walkers” for a weekend stay in Bellikkal. Day 1: We started from Bangalore at around 6 in the
Read more

Monsoon Series - Dudhsagar Trek with Tambdi Surla

Image
Its monsoon season of the year and time for yet another monsoon trek. And one should not miss visiting the enchanting Dudhsagar falls during this time. So Dudhsagar was in my bucket list right from my college days. But somehow plan did not work out and could not make it. This time of the year, thanks to my travel buddy who instigated me to join her for this trip and we decided to tick this place off from our bucket list. Basically, there are 2 ways you can plan to see Dudhsagar falls – Firstly, the majesty of the Dudhsagar falls can be best viewed from a train as it passes the small Railway station of Dudhsagar but that fun would be for just some fraction of seconds. Secondly, trek through the lush green dense forest to the base of the waterfalls so that you can absorb the view at your heart's content. We chose to do the latter. After a lot of research, my friend had shortlisted Muddie trails since their itinerary had mode of travel as train from Bangalore to Goa and back which we
Read more